CEOs Apple, Google, Amazon and Facebook testify in US government hearings

The CEOs of tech giants Apple, Google, Amazon and Facebook will testify in a hearing of a committee of the US House of Representatives at the end of this month. The committee is investigating abuse of the monopoly position of large tech companies.

It will be the first time that the CEOs will all testify in one case, according to New York Times columnist Kara Swisher, who first reported the news. Apple CEO Tim Cook was the last to agree to the questioning, according to CNBC. Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Google’s Sundar Pichai had already pledged. Of those four, only Bezos never appeared for a hearing before the US House of Representatives.

The interrogation is part of an investigation into the monopoly position of large tech companies. That research has been running since the summer of last year and could, for example, lead to new legislation for large tech companies that should ensure more competition.

It is unknown how the commission would like to break the monopolies. The hearings are expected to take place separately due to the coronavirus outbreak. The CEOs will answer questions from politicians about their market power in the hearings at the end of July.